Every Fifteen Minutes
by Scheming Rabbit
Summary: Kuroko was in a car crash, except… he wasn't. One misleading post online leads to a mess across the high school basketball circuit. Fluffy!GoM fic. No character deaths. Oneshot.


Edit: For people who care, I imagine this to take place after the Winter Cup and winter break but before spring break, somewhere between January and early March.

Edited again because I realized I forgot to fix the obituary back when I was deciding when to place this. *facepalm*

* * *

 _Every fifteen minutes, someone dies from an alcohol-related collision._

* * *

"Here, class. Settle down," the teacher called over the chattering students. Many ignored the placid teacher. "I said SETTLE DOWN." They scrambled. Once most of them sat back in their seats (and some chalk was thrown at the more stubborn ones), the teacher continued, "We will be participating in a program called 'Every Fifteen Minutes'. It is meant to make high school students realize that drinking and driving is one of the worst things to do. Now, today we will simply be writing down the names of fellow classmates that you admire or get along with well and why. Later in the program, you will find out why we're doing this. Please get started." The teacher then sat down at his desk and proceeded to grade last week's tests.

The students shuffled around to withdraw a sheet of paper and a pencil. Some glanced around to consider who to write about. Unhesitatingly, Kuroko immediately began writing about his basketball partner.

 _I admire Kagami-kun because of his unyielding tenacity and drive to become better. He is a person I can proudly call a friend. He…_

In front of him, Kagami was having a slightly harder time—mostly because his written Japanese was not so good. Some quick ruminations quickly drew up a viable subject matter, but the words to describe him… Ah, this was hard… Kagami stumbled his way through the note, finding it easier to write the less he thought about it.

 _I don't know much about his past other than that he's had some trouble in middle school, but from what he did tell me and the team, he's had it hard. Like really bad. REALLY BAD. He devoted his time and effort to the sport we both love and he loved his team back then. But then that team abandoned him and basically told him he was worthless. Yet Kuroko didn't give up. He's a strong guy. That's why I admire him…_

* * *

The teachers of each class assessed the turned in notes to determine which classmate should "die". The principal had said it would be best to choose a popular, well-liked kid, so he shuffled through the papers, trying to find the most recurring name. The faster he finished, the sooner he'd get to go home.

Suzuki, Sato, Kagami, Kurotsuchi, Kagami, Asahi, Satoshi, Kagami… Kagami was repeated many times. Now that he thought about it, Kagami was on the school basketball team, wasn't he? And he helped bring the team to victory for the Winter Cup. There was another basketball player in the class somewhere, but he couldn't remember who. He continued scrolling through the notes. Asami, Takaba, Kagami, Kuroko—Oh, that's who it was. And it was Kagami that had written about him. Out of curiosity, he read the whole note.

… _so yeah, even though he has some annoying traits, like popping up out of nowhere, he's a good guy. I'm thankful I met him._

The note, although written with Kagami's usual brash vocabulary and tone, was surprisingly sweet and sentimental. Then, because of Kagami's heartfelt note, the teacher grew a desire to read Kuroko's note. He flipped back one page and pulled it out of the stack, smoothly laying it on top of the rest.

… _is a strong and reliable partner I can always depend on. I hope to continue to grow and improve together with him._

Kuroko's note was better written with proper diction and a more formal tone, fitting his reserved personality. From information drawn from both of the notes, the teacher gathered that both of the players were equally important in the basketball team, albeit Kagami being better known around the school because Kuroko's natural invisibility hid him from uncaring eyes. However, the loss of either would leave a large crippling impact on the other and the rest of the team, so one of the two would probably be the best bet for the program, judging from a quick overview of all of the notes.

The cursory looks through the rest of the notes revealed much shallower reasons of admiration. _He's hot. He's a smart guy. I think he's cute. He has a large—_ And he was going to stop reading there. He made a note to himself to reprimand Sato.

So, back to the two. Kagami or Kuroko? It looked like neither of them interacted with the other students outside of the basketball club, so neither would have any significant personal impact overall, especially since they were still only freshmen. But none of the other students had, either...

It was four p.m. He'd already spent half an hour agonizing over this one choice, and at this point he just wanted to go home. So… heads or tails?

Yes, good idea.

He flipped a coin.

* * *

Next week was when the program truly began. They were given prior warning to prevent any true panics from breaking out (the teachers learned that the hard way last year). Many students saw the two days scheduled for the program to be a chance to take a break from their classes and were ready to relax. They knew what was going to happen. It wasn't real. No one was really dying.

However, the students were unprepared for the emotional upheaval that came with each and every student's "death". Every fifteen minutes, a participating deputy officer entered a class and took one of the students. Another read a prepared obituary to the class and posted it noticeably in the front of the class, the foreboding dark edges of the paper and sharp black ink appearing to undeniably finalize the truth of the matter. Some cried in the classes as they imagined the taken student to be truly dead, feeling the dread and tragedy seep into their minds and extend their imaginations into the deaths of other important people in their lives.

Then an officer entered class 1-B. "Kuroko Tetsuya," she called out.

Some quiet noises of confusion arose. "Who's Kuroko?"

"Ever heard of him?"

"Eh… the quiet kid?"

"Maybe."

"Then where is he?"

"I'm here," Kuroko announced, successfully startling all of his classmates, the teacher, and the officer at the door.

"Oh, you scared me," the officer gasped as she regained her calm. "Kuroko-kun, please get your things. You won't be returning today."

"Yes, ma'am." Kuroko neatly packed away his belongings and disappeared on the trail of the officer like the phantom he so resembled.

"You're already like a ghost, aren't you, kid?" they heard the officer comment as they walked away. The follow-up officer entered the class and read the false obituary, posting it at the front of the room once done. The class was left in silence as he exited.

Now being completely aware that someone had sat in that seat, the students looked at the usually "empty" seat, which seemed even more forlorn than what they normally thought. They didn't even know the kid—or were even aware that he was in the class most of the time—but they were already feeling the effects of loss.

The only one blissfully unaware was the sleeping Kagami, who had completely missed the scene and somehow also missed all of the announcements about the every-fifteen-minutes victims.

* * *

During lunch, Kagami woke up from hunger and the scent of food as the others opened their lunches. He yawned and blinked drowsily, getting rid of the sleepy tears from his eyes. "Hey, Kuroko," he called as he turned around, expecting the blue-haired phantom player to be there. However, he did not find him there. Making a noise of confusion, he noticed that Kuroko's belongings were gone, too. "That bastard, did he go get lunch by himself?" Moodily, he stomped out of the classroom to go to the cafeteria, not hearing the background conversation about the very person he was seeking.

"Did you know about Kuroko-kun?"

"No. How about you?"

"Me neither."

The small group of girls laughed a little, finding it funny that they had been unaware of the presence of one of their classmates throughout the whole year. One of them approached the front board and took out her phone.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Taking a picture." The girl accessed the camera app and snapped a photo of the obituary with the name of the "deceased" prominently on display. Then she logged into her Twitter account, posting the picture and a caption. _i didnt even know this guy was in my class lol_

Unfortunately for her, she didn't know that the person in question was in fact very well known in certain circles and that posting such a photo would cause a disaster. After all, the obituary was designed to look very real and she hadn't posted a disclaimer to say it was fake. People outside of Seirin weren't aware that they were simulating deaths.

* * *

The first to see the post was, of course, Kise. He was the most social out of all of them and perhaps also the least attentive during class (excluding Aomine since he was never _in_ class). So, to distract himself from the boredom of history, Kise scrolled through random posts from his fans and tried to see if Kurokocchi had made an account yet.

He'd been begging the phantom to make one for a while now because he wanted to have him as a friend and see what Kurokocchi was doing in his everyday life. Creepy? No, he just wanted to be closer to the reserved boy, especially since they were attending different schools now. It was harder to get a hold of him since he couldn't just find him at school and he was adept at ignoring his calls. So mean!

Determined, Kise dug deeper into Facebook and Twitter, looking for any account name that might be Kuroko. But if Kurokocchi was invisible, then maybe his account was, too…

A notification popped up, informing him that one of his "friends" had uploaded something new. It was just another teen girl that he accepted the friend request for because his manager said something about "closer relationships with the fans." Bored with it, Kise clicked on it just to make it go away. With a disinterested gaze, he first looked at the text. _i didnt even know this guy was in my class lol_

Ugh. How was a person able to ignore another to the point they were completely unaware of the other's presence? That was bizarre. Well, unless the person was Kurokocch—

His breath hitched as he saw the attached photo.

No.

That wasn't…

It's not…

Kise clamped a hand to his mouth, stifling the sobs and scream of agony that was building up in his chest.

The picture above the callous caption made him want to break down.

 _In honor of Kuroko Tetsuya_

 _Born January 21, 19xx Died February 20, 20xx_

 _A caring friend and talented basketball player, Kuroko Tetsuya was…_

Tears streamed down his cheeks, and Kise didn't attempt to stop them, still staring in disbelief at the unbelievable picture. His hand was unable to silence the choked up moans rising from his throat, drawing the attention of his classmates around him.

"Kise-kun?" a girl asked hesitantly.

"Hey, Kise, are you crying?" a boy asked, uncomfortably laughing at the emotional display. He was quickly shushed and reprimanded by others.

At this point, the teacher's attention was drawn, too. He put down his book and observed the situation. Kise was crying while looking at his phone. Other students were looking at him with worry. He deduced that Kise received bad news about someone close to him, and while normally he should reprimand the student for having his phone out during class, he didn't have the heart to do so when Kise was so obviously affected. He sighed.

"Yukimura-kun, please take Kise-kun to the nurse's office," the teacher instructed. "Have him take a break to recover."

"U-uh, yes, sir," Yukimura responded. He gently, very carefully—under the watch of many hostile sets of eyes glaring jealously at his task—coaxed Kise out of his seat and out of the room.

Once Kise was settled on a bed and left alone, he took a deep breath to steady himself. He couldn't break yet. He had to let the others know. They would want to know about this.

He saved the picture and sent out texts, uncaring that it was still within school hours. This was more important.

* * *

Akashi felt the phone vibrate in his front pocket and, unconcerned that it was against school rules, he took it out and opened the message. If Kise was sending something to him now, it had to be important. Or else.

Oddly enough, it wasn't filled with the usual emojis that were customary to Kise's texts. All he'd sent was a picture. He tapped on the icon to make it bigger. It looked to be a sheet of paper…

His heart felt like it stopped.

Kuroko… was dead?

From something so _common_ as a car crash?

One of his own was taken because of a careless person's mistake?

Akashi's eye burned.

This was… _unacceptable._

Snarling, he stood from his seat and strode toward the door, intending to leave.

"Wait! Akashi-kun, you—" The teacher stopped his reprimand as his student turned around and glared at him. One of Akashi's eyes glinted a dangerous golden color, which, when paired with his hostile aura, gave him the appearance of a predator out to kill.

"Stand down," Akashi intoned. "I have no time for you." The intimidating eyes flashed cruelly, weakening the teacher's knees and making him fall to the ground. Akashi looked down at him, deeming him an insignificant insect in his way. "Know your place."

Once the teacher was effectively incapacitated, Akashi continued his strides out the door. He had to contact his lawyer.

* * *

Momoi was a well-connected individual, but she was oriented more toward basketball-related information because of her position as the manager rather than social information within schools. This particular news crossed both circles.

So when she got the text from Kise, she desperately searched through her connections to see if the information was really correct. An online forum yielded her answer. Some players of Meijō were celebrating the fact that they may have a chance to beat Seirin in the next tournament because _Kuroko was dead._ Another thread showed the combined condolences from Seiho. Momoi cried out.

* * *

Aomine was dozing on the rooftop as usual when Momoi came storming up and calling for him to come down. He rolled over so that he could see her but made no move to get up just yet.

"What is it, Satsuki? It's still lunchtime, you know? I don't have to go in yet—" Aomine halted when he saw the tears flowing down Momoi's face. Panickedly, he leapt off his perch and approached her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Where's your phone, Dai-chan?" Momoi hiccuped.

"Huh? What's that got to do with anything?"

" _Your phone, Daiki._ "

Thoroughly in a state of surrealism—it was odd for Satsuki to be so genuinely distressed like this—he took out his phone from his jacket pocket. It was off so that he could ignore Satsuki's calls to come down (not that it worked since she just came up here anyways…) He turned on the phone.

"Oh, Kise sent me a text," he remarked. "So?"

"Read it," she commanded.

"Read it?" Still not seeing how everything connected, Aomine elected to do as she said. She never led him wrong before, and she wouldn't start now. He opened it. "What? It's just a picture that—"

 _Kuroko Tetsuya_

 _Died December 20, 20xx_

 _...car crash… dead on scene…_

Aomine couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't see past those few words. He refused to believe them. But Satsuki was crying. She believed it. She would know if it was true.

Then… Kuroko was really dead.

His face darkened. His best friend was gone. Gone forever. Gone because an irresponsible drunk decided to drive and hit his innocent, fragile friend head-on with a two-ton car.

No _way_ was he going to let this slide.

"C'mon, Satsuki," Aomine growled. He stormed to the door leading down.

Momoi wiped at her tears. "Go where?"

He huffed and snarled, "We've got some payback to do."

* * *

"The exponent here does not affect the—" The teacher was interrupted by the sound of a cell phone going off.

Midorima scoffed quietly to himself. Honestly, some people were just so irresponsible. _He_ made sure to turn off his phone every day when he sat down. Other people should have the same decency. The culpable person was not making any move to turn off the phone, even, just letting it ring and get to his nerves. And it looked like the teacher was getting angry, too.

The soft sound of snickering reached his ears. Takao was bent over in his seat, laughing as quietly as he could and sending not-so-subtle glances at him. Now that he thought about it, the ringtone sounded like his…

Midorima jolted. He realized the sound was coming out of his bag. He growled. Takao… He must've turned his phone back on when he wasn't looking and sent a text to him just to get him in trouble. He'd definitely be getting back at him later.

Embarrassed and angry, he swiped his phone out of his bag and silenced it, plopping it back into his bag as if nothing happened. If he shrugged it off, everyone else would, too, according to the laws of the sheeple. However, the teacher didn't look like he wanted to follow the rules.

"Is there something more important than my lessons, Midorima-kun?" the teacher scolded. "If it's so interesting, you wouldn't mind sharing with the rest of the class, right?"

 _This tactic_ … Midorima huffed within the confines of his head. This wouldn't be as embarrassing to him as the teacher thought it would be. After all, it was Takao that sent it. And this way, he'd be the one getting in trouble for texting during class.

So Midorima fished his phone back out and opened the text, preparing to read it out loud. "From Momoi." Oh, So it wasn't Takao. He'd still get back at him for laughing at him. "Tetsu-kun is…" He choked on air and coughed. He… didn't read that right. That definitely wasn't what he just read. He made a mistake.

Concerned, the teacher walked down the aisle and approached his desk. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting. "Midorima-kun, are you okay?"

"I… I…" he gasped, trying to regain his breath.

The other students around him were muttering. Takao had stopped laughing and was now looking at him with worry.

Midorima tried to recollect himself. He picked his phone back up from where he'd dropped it on the floor. The screen was cracked. A bad omen. He cleared his throat of the bile that had quickly risen up and looked at the tiny text on the screen again. His grip tightened as he turned to look specifically at Takao. The point guard felt a sense of foreboding.

Takao's nerves were well-founded. "Kuroko is dead," Midorima announced to the silent classroom. The phone fell again, this time left to shatter completely.

Midorima ran out, heedless of the calls from behind from both the teacher and Takao and the mutterings of the other students.

* * *

Murasakibara's silence and inactivity was starting to scare Himuro. Usually the large teen would be opening yet another bag of chips and be done with his sixth. However, the sixth bag lay open and ignored as Murasakibara stared at the screen of his phone with a terrifying glare. The edge of his desk crackled as he clamped down on it much too hard. Bad news, Himuro inferred.

Suddenly, the giant pushed his chair back, creating an unpleasant screech as the chair legs scraped harshly against the floor with his weight. Murasakibara got up and stomped out the door, heedless of Himuro's calls. "Atsushi! Lunch is almost over! You should stay in your class—"

At that point, Murasakibara was already down the hall, so, sighing, Himuro got up and prepared to chase down his provoked teammate. He caught up to him at the front gates. "Atsushi! What's wrong?"

Wordlessly, the center handed Himuro his phone, the screen showing some sort of message. Quickly, Himuro scanned over the text, rapidly coming to understand the cause of Murasakibara's agitation. He locked the screen and decisively nodded, handing the phone back to its owner. "I'll arrange some plane tickets." It'd take at least an hour to get to Tokyo, but he knew Murasakibara would want to be there.

The giant still refused to talk, and Himuro thought he saw a slight glimmer in his eyes under the curtain of violet hair currently hiding his face.

* * *

At the end of the school day, Seirin was at the point of showcasing the fabricated car crash in front of the school. The students were lined up and crammed around the site. The "driver" was a third year student and the "passenger" was a second year. The "innocent pedestrian" was a first year.

The firetruck and police cars were already lined up and "responding" to the accident. The police went through the alcohol test with the third year while the second year was supposedly being treated for a minor injury she sustained because she hadn't been wearing a seat belt. The first year predictably did not make it. The youngest student was laid out across the street with painted blood streaked across his forehead, reminiscent of his first practice match against Kaijou. The phantom player looked hauntingly beautiful—and eerie—as he stayed collapsed on the black ground. It was as if he were truly dead. His paleness likened him even more to a ghost.

On the ground, Kuroko did his best to act his role (not that he really had to do much other than stay still). It at first annoyed him that he was selected for the role; he liked to be in the background, not the stage. Then he saw the benefits and went along willingly. He still wished for the event to end quickly, however. The faster it did, the faster he could redeem his milkshake voucher at Maji Burger.

He could hear footsteps. The paramedics gathered around him and felt for his heartbeat. Fifty beats per minute: a healthy athletic heart rate. In this scenario, it translated to zero and he was announced dead on the scene. They gently lifted him up and onto a stretcher. However, just as they were about to cover him with a white cloth to shield him from view, someone deviated from the script.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Kagami shouted as he struggled his way through the crowd. "Kuroko? Kuroko! Are you okay? Hey!" Not wanting to be pushed down by the huge basketball player, those who saw him coming quickly swerved out of his path.

 _What are you doing, Kagami-kun?_

Kagami forced his way to the front and ran to Kuroko. "Hey, kid, you can't be here—" one of the paramedics tried to say.

"Get out of my way!" he roared back. "Kuroko! Why are you not responding? Kuroko!"

The paramedics withdrew from the red-haired high schooler, who then lightly tapped Kuroko's cheek in an attempt to rouse him. _Will this affect my voucher?_ Kuroko wondered. If Kagami compromised his milkshake, he would pay for it. He continued to play dead since that was what he was being paid for. He did not want to jeopardize it.

Kagami grasped Kuroko's hands roughly, squeezing them in distress. Kuroko wondered if Kagami really thought if he was dead or if he was simply a really good actor. He didn't recall anything like this being planned, though it was working well to make the watching students sympathize. He supposed they may have changed the script last minute and didn't have the time to tell him.

Then another unexpected guest arrived.

Kise, having escaped from school after sneaking out of the infirmary, immediately called for his chauffeur and went to Seirin as fast as he could. For some reason, Kagami wouldn't answer his phone, so he couldn't get any more information about what happened, so he decided to go to the source.

What he saw almost made him break again. Kagami was leaning over the still form of a bloody Kuroko and it looked like the paramedics had been about to lay a… white… sheet…

It was only confirmation of what he knew before, but the visual proof struck him hard. "Kurokocchi?"

 _Kise-kun?_ Now he _knew_ this was unplanned. The school wouldn't pull in students from other schools, especially when the day wasn't over yet. It looked like Kise didn't know this was a simulation. For that matter, Kagami looked to be unaware as well. How was _that_ possible?

While Kuroko had been silently contemplating the slight conundrum, Kise came to kneel at the side of the stretcher, which had yet to be picked up because of Kagami's interruption.

"What's Kise Ryouta doing at Seirin?" someone wondered from the audience.

"Kise Ryouta? Here?"

"I can't see!"

The teachers tried and failed to suppress the murmurs of the students, who also tried to shuffle forward to better see the idol. Kise's tears started anew as he looked down at the corpse of his beloved friend and mentor. He wasn't supposed to die so young…

Kise shakily took one of Kuroko's hand and twined their fingers together, wanting to pretend that nothing was wrong. After several minutes of grieving, Kise raised his head to glare at Kagami. "What happened?"

Kagami tore his eyes away from the bloody face of his friend to return the glare. "That's what I'd like to know."

"What? So you don't know what happened even though you go to school with him? Where were you?"

"Hey—!"

"Kuroko!" Kagami and Kise broke their glares to instead focus their attention to the person who just arrived at the school. The figure was hunched over and panting as if tired from running a long distance. His green hair hung in front of his glasses, obscuring some of his vision. Midorima.

The student body murmured in confusion.

"Another one?"

"Midorima Shintarou."

"Is this supposed to happen?"

The green-haired shooter visibly tried to collect himself before stepping into the school grounds. His veneer of calm promptly broke when he saw the figure on the stretcher.

Kuroko felt mildly startled when a long-fingered hand grasped his hands away from Kagami and shakily laid them crossed against his chest. It seemed no one knew he was actually alive. _...Should I tell them?_ It would be quite a disaster if the rumor (which he assumed was the reason for his past teammates to have come to Seirin) spread too far out. He really should remedy the problem as fast as possible. And his hands were going numb from how hard people kept holding them. For that matter, how did they not notice he was still warm and breathing?

"Kuroko…" Oh, Midorima was speaking. "It is regretful that I was not able to defeat you before your demise."

 _It's nice to know that is what you would regret, Midorima-kun._

Before Kagami could maul the shooter for his careless comment, Midorima added, "And you did not deserve this fate." He bowed his head.

 _Honestly, I doubt anyone deserves a fate like this, but thank you,_ Kuroko said in his mind.

Then Midorima raised his head. "You should've carried your lucky item." And Kagami was back to being angry.

Kagami was once again prevented from attacking one of the Miracles by the appearance of yet another Miracle. Aomine came raging in like a storm with Momoi in tow.

The ace of the Miracles paused as he saw the setup, obviously not having expected such a thing in front of the school. His eyes were immediately drawn to the growing group in the center. "Tetsu…" he whispered before rushing to them.

"Tetsu-kun?" Momoi hiccuped.

 _Oh, no. Is Momoi-san crying?_ Kuroko hated it when someone made a girl cry. Now he was guilty of the crime. He would have to apologize later.

"It's Aomine Daiki!"

"Why is the Generation of Miracles meeting here?"

The not-so-quiet whispering attracted Aomine's attention, and he scanned the area with a critical eye. The third-year student stumbled back when Aomine caught him in his gaze. The ace stalked forward like a predator with prey in its sight. Once within reach, Aomine sprang forward and crumpled the front of the third-year's shirt in a harsh grip. He ignored the protests of the officers that had been "testing" the student for alcohol. "Was it you?" he growled.

"W-what?" the student nervously stuttered. He looked up at the tall, very intimidating basketball player. He hadn't done anything wrong, so what was he talking about?

"I said was it you who killed Tetsu?" Aomine's eyes flashed with pain, regret, and fury. There were things he still wanted to do with Tetsu, words he never got to say to him… He has a past to make up for. But that was all taken away by this idiot…!

He snarled and drew back a fist. The officers' protestations got louder. The student yelped and held his arms in front of his face. Just as he was about to throw his punch, a gentle hand pressed onto his arm. Aomine stopped. He looked back. "Satsuki."

Momoi cleared her eyes of tears and shook her head. "Don't do it, Dai-chan. Tetsu-kun wouldn't want it."

Aomine considered her words. Tetsu was never the type to physically battle out differences. It probably had to do with his inability due to his weaker body, but his words usually worked well in most situations (and when they didn't, he called upon Akashi or Aomine for help, which always guaranteed a win for his side). However, it was generally true that Tetsu didn't like to start conflicts.

Aomine pushed the student back and let go of his shirt. "Don't think that you've been forgiven," he warned. The student fell back and trembled slightly as he watched the two Touou students rejoin the non-Seirin congregation.

"So even Aomine is here?" Midorima spoke up, dull-eyed. His lucky Kerosuke plushie hung limply in his hand. It didn't feel so lucky anymore.

"What do you mean by 'even Aomine'? Of course I'd be here! Tetsu is—!" Aomine paused in his rant, unable to continue.

All of them gazed at Kuroko, who was by now feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He was starting to think the vanilla milkshake wasn't worth it. This was supposed to be a simulation, but clearly something went wrong in the information network or else his former teammates wouldn't be here thinking he was actually dead. But how was he supposed to clear this up without giving them all a heart attack from witnessing a rise from the dead? They already had frights just from him suddenly appearing.

"Tetsu…"

"Kuro-chin." Heavily thudding footsteps heralded the arrival of Murasakibara. Kuroko resigned himself to seeing all of the Generation of Miracles and subsequently causing a scene (not that there wasn't one already. Already there were exclamations of shock over the abnormally tall first year).

The giant of the Miracles showed up with a somber expression, not a hint of boredom or disdain on his face for once. Himuro quietly trailed behind him in silent support. Atsushi had acted very uncharacteristically on the plane ride to Seirin. He didn't touch a single one of his snacks, not even when Himuro offered one as a distraction to his tumultuous feelings. Instead, Atsushi had faced forward, head bowed down with flashes of sorrow and threats of murder crossing his face.

Now, Murasakibara solemnly staggered his way to Kuroko and carefully cradled the body in his long arms, rearranging the thin limbs to make it seem as if Kuroko was resting. He didn't hate the shadow, not really, no matter what he might have said before. They didn't get along in terms of basketball, but outside the courts was another matter.

This was the scene that Akashi arrived to: his Generation of Miracles and Kagami Taiga mourning over the bloody body of Kuroko held by Murasakibara with what looked like the whole school and a smattering of police officers and firefighters behind them.

Akashi felt the first stirrings of suspicion rise in him. He had come to the school in hopes of getting more information regarding the accident, but it seemed the school was the site where it occurred. But why had they not moved Tetsuya's body to the morgue yet? It must've been hours since the crash. And why were they letting the students watch? It was highly inappropriate.

He approached the huddled group in silence, the lawyer following his footsteps. Kise and Midorima stepped to the side to make room for their leader unquestioningly. Aomine still held Kuroko's hand. Akashi reached a hand out and touched Kuroko's arm. He was still warm. He slid his hand to Kuroko's wrist and did what everyone before him failed to do. _One… Two… Three…_

Then, Akashi smiled.

"Oi, Akashi—!" Aomine growled, hurt that he would smile at Kuroko's death. But Momoi, the sharp girl that she was, caught on quickly.

"Silence, Daiki." His heterochromatic eyes, which made a reappearance because of his rage, intensified upon the power forward and instantly silenced him. Satisfied, Akashi then stroked Kuroko's head before commanding, "Tetsuya. Get up."

Midorima and Kise confusedly looked at Akashi. How did he expect Kuroko to just wake up? However, to their surprise, he did so.

Kuroko finally opened his eyes—because no one defied the emperor—and, with his familiar monotone voice, said, "Hello, Akashi-kun."

Ignoring the shouts of surprise and unexpected elation, Akashi returned the greeting. "Good day, Tetsuya. Do you mind explaining this to me?" He gestured to Kuroko's bloody face and the wrecked car.

Kuroko wriggled out of Murasakibara's slackened grasp and landed lightly on his feet. "Yes, Akashi-kun. This is all an educational program."

Aomine looked dumbfounded. "A what? Tetsu, what?"

"An educational program. It's called Every Fifteen Minutes. It's meant to raise awareness about the thousands of teen deaths each year caused by drunk driving."

All of the Miracles looked at the car wreck, the officers, and the gathered students. "Oh."

Kuroko aimed a questioning gaze at Kagami, "And what were you doing, Kagami-kun? It felt like you really believed I was dead."

Kagami blushed when everyone turned to him. "Well, how was I supposed to know?"

"All of the teachers told us it would be today. Emails were sent out about the event. The PA system announced the names of the 'dead' all day," Kuroko listed.

"Really, Bakagami? You missed all that?" Aomine mocked.

Kagami was red with anger and embarrassment. "Shut up, Ahomine. You thought this was all real, too."

Aomine quirked a brow. "Unlike you, I didn't get the notice that this was a simulation, And I learned about this through Satsuki, who I trust."

Momoi spoke up. "Sorry, Dai-chan. I looked through my sources, and all of them pointed to it being true. Oh! That reminds me..." She rifled through her bag and pulled out her phone. She fiddled around with some buttons and then displayed the screen. "We're going to demolish Meijō if we ever meet them in a match."

The screen showed an online forum with a thread named "Seirin's Fall". Several users affiliated with Meijō were _celebrating_ Kuroko's alleged death.

Aomine glared at the messages. "Oh, yeah, definitely," he growled.

Kagami scoffed at the audacity of the Meijō players. "We can defend ourselves just fine."

Murasakibara was acclimating back to his usual self, judging by his acceptance of a calming offering of Umaibo by Himuro. "Meijō? That's not in Akita's bracket, is it?" he asked. The cracker snapped loudly when he bit down.

"Unfortunately not," Himuro replied. He passed Murasakibara another Umaibo when he discarded the finished wrapper behind him.

Kise finished erasing the last traces of tears. His eyes were still red, though. "Don't worry, Kurokocchi. I'll beat them down for you," he assured.

Kuroko wiped a stray tear from Kise's cheek, feeling guilty for making him so visibly distressed. Then he hit him for thinking he had to be avenged. "I can take care of that myself, Kise-kun."

"So mean, Kurokocchi..." Kise whined.

"Well, as interesting as this was, I think we have successfully interrupted Kuroko's 'educational program'," Akashi cut in. At that second, the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. "And it seems school is over, too." However, none of the teachers seemed like they were going to do anything, whether that be herding their students back to the classrooms or scolding them for interrupting their program, and Akashi didn't want to wait around until they regained their senses, so… "Want to go play basketball?"

"Yes!"

"Sure."

"Yeah!"

"Of course."

"Mmm… nmmm… Okay…"

"Since I don't have anything better to do, I guess I can go."

They went to play basketball, leaving behind the stunned police officers, paramedics, and school occupants.

* * *

The next year, students were banned from taking pictures during the event to prevent another Generation of Miracles fiasco and Kuroko was not asked to be one of the casualties again.

* * *

Epilogue

The next day, Midorima showed up after school with Takao, who pulled the rickshaw as usual. Midorima adjusted his glasses and held out a bundle of cloth to the shadow player. "Here, Kuroko. It's Aquarius' lucky item for the day—a black sweater." Seirin's basketball team looked at it critically. It was a bright fluorescent orange.

Kagami pointed it out. "Which part of that is black?"

Midorima pushed his glasses again and drew attention to a tiny black dot on the inside hem. "Right here."

Koganei tilted his head confusedly. "Isn't it just orange?"

Hyuuga leaned forward, trying to get a closer look at the little dot. "It looks like you took an orange sweater and drew that dot on with a black permanent marker."

Midorima discreetly shoved his Sharpie further into his pocket.

Takao laughed. "That's because he did."

"Shut up, Takao."

"He's just worried Kuroko will be hit by a car, so he's trying to make him more visible."

" _Takao!_ "

* * *

This is my first foray into KnB. Yay. I think the ending was lame, but whatever. I've been working on this since November.

Every Fifteen Minutes is a real thing in the US. I've taken some (many) liberties with the details, but I had the general outline. I have no idea what the statistics for car crashes are in Japan. It's probably way less since they have more public transportation, but let's assume they're the same as in the US.

Don't drink and drive, people. Or text and drive. Or stupid things in general.


End file.
